Kenny Perry Leads THE PLAYERS After Day 2, Annika's Back at Michelob.

Kenny Perry forged a one stroke lead after day 2 of THE PLAYERS Championship. His 70 gave him a single stroke lead over first day leader Sergio Garcia and Paul Goydos, both tied together at -5. Perry stroked only 25 putts on the slick TPC Sawgrass greens whereas Garcia needed 31 whacks with the flat stick for his round. It's always about the putting, isn't it? The round of the day belonged to Bernhard Langer, whose 67 propelled him into a three way tie for second. Anthony Kim, showing no signs of youngster nerves, and previous champion Stephen Ames were locked at -4.

This tournament had the reputation for being unpredictable. Evidence the fact that there's never been a defending champion winner. Solid ball striking and great putting on bath tub greens, for four days, is all it takes to win this baby. All? Proof that anyone can win is seen in the list of highly ranked player's performances so far.

After day 2...........Fred Couples, -2, four shots back, still in it. Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els, -1, still in it. Average Golfer's pick, Adam Scott, +2, technically in, realistically out. Last year's 2nd, Sean O'Hair, +4, MC. Vijay Singh, Brandt Snedeker, +4, MC. Padraig Harrington, +6, MC. Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, +7, MC. Geoff Ogilvy, +8, Paul Casey, Steve Stricker, and Chucky Three Sticks, +9, MC. Lastly, K.J. Choi, +13, MC.

That's a burial ground for great golfers. There must be something about this tournament that affected the Brits in the field. They came apart like a $30.00 suit. Perhaps the food's too good.


RESURGENT ANNIKA LEADS AT MICHELOB ULTRA OPEN

I must confess I was wondering about Annika's game. Was it age or fatigue after all these years of excellence? All perfectly understandable when you consider her body of accomplishments for such a long period of time. Well, wonder no more! Brilliant rounds of 64 and 66 gave her a three stroke lead over Jeong Jang and Lorena Ochoa at The Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill. With the ladies going low this could be the best contest of the weekend. With Lorena in the mix it has the makings of a real showdown. I may have to reprogram my remote for Sunday.

Til' next,

Sergio Garcia Surges to THE PLAYERS Championship Lead After Round #1.

Sergio Garcia's putter didn't desert him in the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship today. He maintained his reputation for being one of the, if not the best, ball strikers on tour by nailing 71% of the fairways and hitting 89% of the greens in regulation. Put that together with 29 putts and you have a 66 and a two shot lead over Paul Goydos and Kenny Perry, both at -4. One more shot back is a five way tie for 3rd with resurgent Steve Elkington, Niclas Fasth, former Open Championship winner Todd Hamilton, peacock imitator Ian Poulter, and Heath, "Not the Candy Bar", Slocum. One round doesn't a championship make, but I'm sure Sergio must feel some relief to be able to capitalize on his tee to green play. Too early here to make assumptions and see trends, so tomorrow will separate some wheat from chaff.

Some notables and scores from favorites we mentioned yesterday. Fred Couples and Phil Mickelson locked at -2. Both are in great shape. Also at -2 are Anthony Kim and Jose Maria Olazabal. Nice to see Ollie coming around after a spate of injuries. Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els are glued together at even par. Jim Furyk's at +2. Average Golfer's pick Adam Scott and and course regular Vijay Singh are knotted at +3 needing 31 and 32 putts respectively to complete their rounds. Both those boys at nine shots off the lead need to go low on Friday to hang around for the weekend.

In the "What the hell happened to my golf game" category are Justin Rose at +6, K.J. Choi at +7 and Chucky Three Sticks at +7.

Tomorrow divides the pretenders from the contenders. Should at least be interesting.

Til' next,

THE PLAYERS Championship - Winner Predicted.

Let's get one thing straight. Average golfer in no way supports or encourages illegal wagering of any type or form. The comments here are for amusement purposes only! Average golfer has never "knowingly" placed a wager on any type of sporting event, although he's been known to randomly profit from wagers he made after the fact or had no knowledge of before the event took place. There was certainly no alcohol involved in any of the aforementioned wagers.

That being said, here's the top players listed at the 2008 PLAYERS Championship with their current Ladbrokes odds listed. Armed with only that information we'll ferret out a winner. We're due, we had Geoff Ogilvy winning the Masters. Here we go.....

Phil Mickelson, 10/1....Defending champ. Playing well. Hard to go against. Recent putter change may tell all. Sprayed a lot of shots last week.

Adam Scott, 12/1....Won here in '04. No real weaknesses. Strong contender at least.

Jim Furyk, 16/1....Fairway hitting machine. Great irons. Comes down to the putter which has been uncharacteristically uneven of late.

Padraig Harrington, 20/1....Playing well. Won't be intimidated. 6/6 cuts this year. 69.78 scoring average.

Vijay Singh, 20/1....Home course advantage along with Furyk. Ball striking has been great after swing changes settled in. At 20/1 I see great value here.

Geoff Ogilvy, 25/1....Consistent all year. Stared down Woods earlier. Real shot here to validate US Open win.

Stewart Cink, 25/1....Seemingly 2nd to Woods all year. Great putting keeps him in any tournament.

Anthony Kim, 33/1....Riding high after last week. Possible, he's a great player, but two in a row's asking a lot from a youngster.

Ernie Els, 33/1....Playing on rep alone. Don't know what's distracting Ernie. Don't see him winning this.

Retief Goosen, 33/....Expected much more this year from Goose. Who knows? We'll see.

Sergio Garcia, 33/1....If the game was just tee to green he'd be undefeated. If he pretends it's the Ryder Cup, he'll win. Putter makes or breaks him.


After disseminating all the available data Average Golfer predicts the winner of the 2008 PLAYERS Championship is............Adam Scott. He's played beautifully all year and has the complete game to conquer a tough course and a strong field.

Others with a chance................Vijay, Furyk, Harrington, Cink.

There you go! THE PLAYERS Championship winner on the house, courtesy of me. You're welcome in advance.

Til' next,


*Average Golfer not responsible for reader's loss of home, wife, kids, car(s), pets, reputation, disposable income, or any other financial loss associated with trusting this column.

THE PLAYERS Championship - Is It The 5th Major?

The TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL hosts the 2008 Players Championship this week. Even without wounded Tiger Woods and Will Mackenzie it's the strongest field of the year. It typically is a strong field and the question of whether the tournament has "Major cred" has become a common theme. Let's reexamine it's credentials to be placed in such lofty company.

144 players will tee off this week giving it a major field size as opposed to the choosy Masters. 24 of the top 25 players in the world are entered with Woods being the foil to perfect attendance. 45 of the top 50 are in. An amazing 101 of the competitors have combined for 414 P.G.A. Tour victories. That's cred. 25 Major champions are playing. If that doesn't give it a Major feel, what does?

The TPC Sawgrass plays to a par 72 over 7,215 yards. Major length, but not stupid length for length's sake. It was rated the 12th most difficult of the 55 courses played on Tour last year. The controversial par three 17th gives the course it's signature hole, like it or hate. The 18th is no picnic and serves as a potential tournament maker or breaker. This average golfer loves tough finishing holes. The networks love 'em as well. It keeps people watching for the "just in case".

Only one European has won The Players, Sandy Lyle in 1987. No one has ever successfully defended their crown in the tournament. Newly minted President's Cup captain Fred Couples is entered as a replacement for the aforementioned Mackenzie. Couples has won the event in 1984 and 1996. In 1999, playing the island green 17th, Couples hit his first ball in the water, teed it up again, and knocked his 3rd in the cup for a routine par. Tiger Woods has just one win here in 2001. Fourteen Players rookies will tee it up on Thursday. Last week's Tour winner Anthony Kim will be the youngest player at 22, Fred Funk, winner in 2005, the oldest at 51.

Last year Sean O'Hair, trailing Phil Mickelson by two strokes, drowned two balls in the water on 17 to dash any hopes of catching Phil. Dramatic and gutsy. I love to see a golfer playing for 1st. Phil defends and will be a strong pick. A number of players call Ponte Vedra Beach home though and claim Sawgrass as their home course. Chief among them Vijay Singh.

Tomorrow we'll doff the thinking cap and make some picks.

Til' next,

Creamer Nips Inkster In SemGroup Playoff - Anthony Kim Runs Away With Wachovia.

SemGroup Championship

Julie Inkster had chalked up 8 L.P.G.A. victories before Paula Creamer was born. Had she won today she would have been the oldest L.P.G.A. winner at 47. She just missed. Creamer holed a about a 10 footer for birdie on the 2nd playoff hole to rack up her 6th career victory in the SemGroup Championship.

There were multiple ironies at work here. Inkster lost here last year in a playoff to Mi Hyun Kim. Creamer lost last week in a playoff with Annika Sorenstam. She evidently learned a little about playoff golf in a week. The final round was really a match play tournament as the rest of the field was so far behind they were playing for 3rd place. By rights, a balky putter most of the day prevented a Creamer victory in regulation. She'd missed a couple of three footers in regulation and a ten footer on the 18th hole of regulation that forced the playoff.

It was a great finish to watch. Inkster and Creamer are great friends. The empathetic look on Inkster's face when Creamer missed the potential winning putt on the 18th hole was wonderful to see. As much as she felt for Creamer though, there was no mistaking Inkster's desire to dispatch her. Interesting dynamics from two intense competitors. As an aside, Lorena Ochoa's win streak ended at four.

Wachovia Championship

Anthony Kim became the youngest winner on the P.G.A. Tour in 6 years by running away with the Wachovia Championship. He was never seriously threatened by posting a final round 69. His 272 total beat the tournament record held by Tiger Woods by 3 strokes. Ben Curtis had the day's best 65 and still finished 5 behind Kim. Kim became the youngest winner since Sergio Garcia and proved he made the right decision by turning pro after having been named the freshman of the year at Oklahoma.

Next week the boys move to The Players Championship, considered by many to be the 5th major. The women are at Kingsmill for the Michelob ULTRA Open.

*Average Golfer pet peeve.....When will ESPN2 remove the insidious trailers and score updates that reduce the usable size of my TV screen to 7 inches. I have to work to see the player's heads for crying out loud! Seriously, this would prevent me from watching a less riveting tournament.

Til' next,

Free P.G.A. Professional Golf Lesson.

Who's the best person to get a golf lesson from? Your neighbor? Your brother-in-law? Not the neighbor. He slices more than a slasher flick. Not your brother-in-law. His method of gaining distance off the tee is to get a running start. Nope, neither, it's a P.G.A. Professional instructor, a person whose business is golf.

May is P.G.A. free lesson month. Contact a P.G.A. Professional instructor and you'll receive a free ten minute lesson. Ten minutes with them is better than ten days with your brother-in-law. Whether your a beginner looking for the basics to get the ball in the air, or a seasoned player tweaking an already good game, you can't beat this opportunity. So, hoist yourself out of that La-Z-Boy Leather Furniture and march to your free lesson. Here's the link to find the closest instructor to you. (P.G.A. Free Lesson) Good luck and get going!

Til' next,

Daly, Harmon.......Bad Marriage, Worse Divorce.

The gift that keeps on giving if you're a golf nut like this average golfer. The Daly/Harmon kabuki dance continues from across the great Atlantic. Big John's in Seville knocking it around at the Spanish Open. His 75 today left him 10 shots off the lead. Daly claims he spoke with Harmon and Harmon apologized for the abrupt and very public manner with which he severed their relationship. Harmon was evidently taken aback by the comments and responded with, “John Daly called me on Thursday and said he had lost all of his endorsement contracts because of me and my statements and asked if I could print a retraction. I said, ‘John, you lost your contracts because of you and not anyone else….you need to quit blaming everyone else….I wish you well and I hope you play well. ”

This saga began at the beginning. Daly needed help in a lot of areas and hooked up with Harmon to help with the most obvious, his golf game. Harmon didn't see the commitment he required from Daly and unceremoniously dumped him in the press after the PODS Championship. Daly was reported to have been drinking at the Hooters hospitality tent and grabbed John Gruden, coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to fill in as his caddie. Getting rid of him in that fashion was at the least unprofessional and beyond rude. A noted press hog, Harmon should have at least found some of his precious time to dump Daly in person and in private. You didn't hear Tiger Woods go into detail regarding why he fired Harmon. Harmon's obviously a great teacher or Adam Scott and Phil Mickelson wouldn't bother to cut him checks. His decision to quit working with Daly can't really be questioned based on Daly's lackadaisical efforts in most of his life. It's not what was done, but how it was done that says a lot about the players in this melodrama.

Big John's in Europe trying to get what's left of the mojo back. Harmon's in Las Vegas planning his next video or book. Big John has always been Big John, warts and all. From when he first hit the scene, what you see is what you get. That's the basis for his appeal. We all know a guy like Big John, and we love him. Butch Harmon is what he has to be to suit the moment and place himself in a favorable light. That explains hitting a guy while he's down, but doesn't justify it.

Big John........Get your life and golf game back.
Butch............Don't piss off Phil or Adam.

Til' next,